The dynamic nature of supply and demand processes makes it difficult to synchronize or balance the supply with the demand, for example, for companies selling products or the like to customers. One way the companies may mitigate the imbalance is to steer customers toward substitutes or alternative products that are available or offer product configurations that can be supplied more easily. The companies may thus shape the demand to help improve the day-to-day supply chain operations. As an example, when a customer contacts the sales representatives of a company in order to purchase computers, the sales representative may identify and suggest product alternatives that could be offered based on the availability and even the profitability, thereby shaping demand.
Such demand shaping, however, requires identifying viable alternatives, in order to optimally utilize the available products and meet the desired level of profitability. While there have been methods developed that help identify optimal inventory control policies, they do not focus on developing policies that deter mine the alternative products to offer for shaping demand.